Following up a class in plate tectonics

Monday, Wednesday and Friday I attend a plate tectonics class at Memorial University's Earth Sciences Department.  Therefore, I initially passed on joining Dean and Julie on a paddle today, Monday.

They were paddling south from St Philips, leaving at 1:00 pm.  I decided I'd paddle anyway, put-in late and catch them somewhere between St Philips and Topsail.

I caught them only 2.5 kms into my paddle.  They were returning to St. Philips so at that point it would only net me 5 kms.  Hardly worth getting the hull wet.

A sizable swell caused havoc along the shore.  As we neared St. Philips I decided I'd paddle by myself up to Portugal Cove to make the paddle worthwhile.  Dean and Julie went home.

At the G-Spot (so named because this is the spot a few years ago Gerard had a swim) the swell went skywards when it hit the rocks and ...

... carried on into the cliffs.  Caught inside there today would mean a side surf up onto the rocks and possibly a holing and swim.  The decision to bypass was an easy one.

At Sailing Point I surveyed the situation.  This is where I had an eight minute swim last Christmas Eve in conditions similar to today.  The tide was falling exposing rocks in the center of the channel when the water sucked out ...

... and substantially more when the water surged in.  Another opportunity to exercise good judgement.

Near Portugal Cove I sat and observed another spot that in safer conditions we scoot through.  Now you see the exposed rocks and ...

... now you don't.  Trying that today was going to put anyone in a serious spot of bother.  Awe inspiring the power of moving water.

I reached Portugal Cove, did a calculation of the distance I would end the day with when I returned to St. Philips and decided it would do.  Arriving back at St. Philips I clocked 12.7 kms.  It was foggy and it rained intermittently but it was worth the effort on a day I didn't plan to paddle.  A bonus so to speak.

Foam on the water ... no fire in the sky tho

Last weekend I was out of town and consequently couldn't paddle.  I wanted to get back in my kayak after a two week hiatus.  Checking the forecast it was going to be windy.  The forecast was for SW winds in the am at 20 knots gusting to 30 picking up in the pm to 35 gusting to 60.  Ykes!  No day paddle for sure but a bounce in St. Philips was an option.  I was lucky to recruit Brian and Terry.

The plan was to paddle upwind as far as feasible and surf back:

We had a rain squall and the wind seemed to pick up.  The SW winds wrapped around the point and over the rocks:

The sun came out after the squall passed and we had a rainbow:

As the morning progressed the wind increased; waves got bigger.  Quick responses were necessary to counteract the sudden gusts or the roll was going to be tested:

The wind picked up to gusts I estimate at 40 knots.  As the waves crashed on the rocks the spray blew away in the wind:

After two hours it was time to call it a day.  My drive home was along the shore.  I looked out over the bay.  It was a mass of white.  We were off the water in time.

I checked the wind velocity when I walked in the door.  It was 35 knots gusting to 45.

Happy in my kayak

Facebook friend Tess recently posted the Jack Kerouac quote "Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream."  He has a point if the dream is falling off of a cliff but ...

... he's obviously wrong when the experience is paddling in confused seas ...

... with salt spray pouring over the deck and myself and the drizzle build up on my glasses that feels like I'm looking through sandblasted glasses.

I think happiness is the feeling of being alive that today certainly could not have been a dream, the real experience  verified by corroborative evidence from Brian and Hazen when we had coffee afterwards.  Surely we didn't all have the same dream.

Getting out before Gonzalo

This morning hurricane Gonzalo was just leaving Bermuda as I left home and it had the Avalon Peninsula in its sights next.  The leading edge of the hurricane had winds forecasted to be close to 35 kms with gusts to 50ish.  It seemed wise to stay close so the invite went out for a bounce in the cove at St Philips.

Only Terry was able to paddle so it was just the two of us.  It was blowing alright but nothing challenging in the cove so I suggested we paddle up the coast a bit and if the wind intensified we'd turn and be blown back.

There was very active water along the coast which made for some interesting paddling and exercise of judgement.

We paddled the 6 kms to Topsail Beach where we got out to stretch our legs.  The wind wasn't what it was supposed to be; blowing maybe 25 kms with gusts to 35.  Meh!

On the way back though it picked up close to 35 kms and gusting to 50.  The sea quickly picked up in size making it a fun ride back along side the cliffs.

As we neared St. Philips we were elated that we had decided to take a paddle away from the cove.

However when I got home I was massively disappointed to find the video I thought I was shooting wasn't on the camera.  Drats, I had put to sea without checking the battery which, it turns out, was out of charge.  The stills I was taking I knew wouldn't do justice to the sea state so I thought some video would.  Unfortunately I left some really good video out there.

That's a lesson for the next time.  Anyway, I was happy to get out for a paddle before hurricane Gonzalo arrives and the poo hits the fan.

The season ends for St. Philips practices

Thursday evening was our last practice/paddle/social for the year.  We've been meeting every Thursday evening since early April to practice various rescues, paddle strokes etc but on calm evenings we've usually gone for a short paddle.

The evenings in October are getting very short with it pretty much dark at 7:00 so then we call it quits.

On our last evening there were just three of us.  This was Sean.

We left the cove at 6:00 and paddled half an hour up the coast before turning around to put us back in the cove as darkness falls.  The light was failing even as we left the cove.  This was Reha.

While there were only three of us on the final evening, we've averaged between 6 - 7 per evening over the season and I believe the record for 2014 was 12.  Most are regulars but we did have several come out for the first time and I know they benefited from the opportunity to paddle with more experienced paddlers.

An half hour up the coast followed by a wind and mini-surf assisted push back put us in the boat basin at St. Philips at 6:50 in darkening skies.

I'll miss Thursday evenings now because it was a go every Thursday unless it conditions were truly attrocious.  Rain, sun, wind or calm it went ahead.  Thanks to everyone who participated this year.

Tracing the Topsail fault to Bauline

The Topsail fault is a prominent feature along the east side of Conception Bay.  It separates Harbour Main volcanic rocks from Cambrian and Ordovician age rocks, where discernible, that is, not under water.  All long the east side of the fault the hills rise vertically from the sea so much so that we are in shade at Portugal Cove as we ready to put in.

Once out on the water and out of the shadow of the bald hill overlooking the cove our foursome of Dean, Hazen, Lev and myself were in brilliant sunshine.

Soon we are under the hills again and the early sun hasn't had time to creep high enough in the sky to win the battle over shade.

The rocks along here are the oldest on the Avalon Peninsula dating from the Paleoproterozoic, that is, older than 1.5 billion, with a capital B, years old.

An hour later we were at Brocks Pond falls where the outflow of Brocks Pond tumbles over the 100 meter cliffs.  The sun slowly crept into the sky and I had to shield the camera lens from the sun with my cap, oops just visible.

To the west lay the Ordovician rocks of Bell Island isolated from everything else.

It seemed the closer we got to Bauline the more imposing the cliffs got.  The cliff highlighted by the sun rose a further 100 meters above the prevailing landscape to reach 200 meters.

Two hours later and 12 kilometers on we reached the community of Bauline clinging on to a notch in the long march of cliffs.

We stopped for a bite to eat in Bauline.  While we had lunch a van full of tourists arrived in the harbour.  They were lucky with the weather for Bauline would not look so quaint in rain and fog.  It would look more like the land god gave to Cain.

Finished our lunch I had the feeling our foursome was more of a draw than the scenery as we left the harbour to return to Portugal Cove.

Thanks guys for a most enjoyable day on the water.

Here's a link to Dean's blog for his take on the day.

Penultimate Thursday

There were five of us on the next to last Thursday evening at St. Philips.  It gets dark early this time of year so we only went for a short paddle as far as Beachy Cove.  And, it was cool.  My hands started t lose their dexterity so I had to don neoprene mitts for the first time.  In the west the sun was going down.  In the east ...

... the moon was rising over reddish cliffs bathed in the red glow of the setting sun.

As the evening wore on even the water seemed to be on fire.